Introduction
Aging and elderly offenders are a growing demographic within the correctional management system of justice. The increased proportion of prison inmates over the age of 50 is a significant trend that has taxed the system in both economic and sociological ways. Elderly criminal offenders have different requirements than younger inmates, as many studies on gerontology have demonstrated. Among these requirements, the medical health needs of inmates who are declining physically is a prominent concern. Psychological and social factors also assume more significance in the elderly population, whether they are first-time offenders or have been imprisoned for decades. As the population of correctional systems has become increasingly skewed towards elderly offenders, the issues of how to effectively manage them within the current organizational arrangements takes on a prominent role in criminal justice studies.
Discussion
One major approach to this demographic shift focuses primarily on the ethical treatment of elderly prisoners; this area of study weighs out the impact of varying psychological and social factors. A presentation in May 2014 at the International Training Course of the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute (UNAFEI) on this aspect of criminal justice has important implications. Frank J. Porporino, a current Board Member of the International Corrections and Prisons Association, provides an overarching outlook that considers the options for elderly offenders as well as the historical framework of criminal justice and correctional management from the long view. His findings were also published as an advocacy for human rights from an international perspective.
A predominant issue for elderly inmates, as Porporino points out, is the concurrent problems of social isolation and declining health as a normal process of aging. “Most elderly offenders will have lost touch with their families and friendsHealth concerns are a daily preoccupation and fear of death, alone in a small cell, the fodder for nightmares” (Porporino, 2014, p. 1). While the psychological component of this grim depiction stands out, it also signifies the growing crisis in corrections management.
In the United States, “13% of sentenced prisoners in America are aged 50 and older” (Porporino, 2014, p. 3). This pattern of imprisonment will increase over the next few years in the United States, a fact made more alarming when compared with the higher levels of financial costs incurred. It is estimated that the expense of housing prisoners over the age of 50 is nearly twice the cost of younger inmates; as they reach the ages of 65 and over, they will require all of the same medical health services of any elderly person. The questions of ethical responsibility and human dignity in the aging population are central to a corrections management program that will meet their needs. A wide-scale analysis of trends towards imprisonment of the elderly was conducted by the ACLU, focusing on the 25-year period from 1980-2004. Important findings were reported in their study, ‘The Mass Incarceration of the Elderly,’ which was published in 2012. The researchers concluded that the disproportionate growth in the elderly prison population was not explained by simple demographic trends of an aging population. They also found that crime rates among the elderly had not risen in most instances. “For almost all offenses that were examined, arrest rates for the elderly had either remained stable or had fallen over time” (Porporino, 2014, p. 5). Yet the situation continues to have a decided impact on correctional management approaches, including the possibilities for building additional facilities that will be more equipped to handle these issues. Today’s prisons were not designed to provide the additional needs for an aging population. However, “many jurisdictions are turning to the establishment of geriatric or nursing-home type programs” (Porporino, 2014, p. 9). The psychological repercussions of long-term imprisonment will need to be addressed in a coordinated measure as well. Elderly prisoners may appear to need less attention, but factors of social isolation are likely to increase psychological maladjustments—including a loss of purposeful meaning in life and feelings that lead to indignity.
Many studies in criminal justice support these findings, with an overall depiction of financial crisis: “current federal and state budget difficulties hinder the ability to address the environmental, health-related, and social needs of these inmates” (Rikard & Rosenberg, 2007, p. 2). An additionally concerning factor is the reality that many prisoners have had very rough lives over the course of several decades, with “long histories of alcohol and drug abuse, insufficient diet, and lack of medical care” (Rikard and Rosenberg, 2007, p. 3). While the reasons for imprisonment include some of the most heinous crimes of murder, rape, and other violent acts, many elderly inmates have been incarcerated for lesser offenses that pose no threat to public safety.
The shift from a rehabilitation model of justice to an incapacitation model around the 1980s has been cited a main cause for the burgeoning rates of elderly prisoners now. Two important changes in criminal justice law were the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and the Law Enforcement Act of 1994. Both measures “toughened and extended sentences and reduced judges’ discretion” (Rikard and Rosenberg, 2007, p. 10). Since that era, building adequate prison facilities and employing well-trained correctional officers to manage large populations of prisoners effectively have been some of the most important issues in criminal justice studies.
References
Porporino, F. J. (2014, April). Managing the elderly in corrections. In International Community Corrections Association Annual Conference, Cleveland, OH. 1-29.
Rikard, R. V., & Rosenberg, E. (2007). Aging inmates: A convergence of trends in the American criminal justice system. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 13(3), 150-162.
